Soldiers in military vehicles proceed towards the al-Jura district in El-Arish city from Sheikh Zuwaid, around 350 km (217 miles) northeast of Cairo May 21, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
Anonymous militants kidnapped a police captain on the highway between the cities of Rafah and Al-Arish in Egypt's North Sinai on Sunday afternoon, reported Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.
According to Al-Ahram, the captain was kidnapped by militants on his way back from work in Rafah to his home in Al-Arish.
Security sources told Reuters' Aswat Masriya that officer Omar El-Desouky, who works in the ports security division, was on a bus when alleged members from Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis – who had set up a checkpoint – searched the bus and took him to an unknown location.
Another security source told Al-Ahram's Arabic news website that there was another officer on the bus who managed to avoid capture by the militants by concealing his identity.
Security forces are currently investigating the incident.
The Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State last November.
Egypt’s security forces have been facing a decade-long jihadist militant insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, with militant attacks increasing over the past year and expanding into Cairo and the Nile Delta, killing hundreds of army and police personnel. The military has also announced the killing and arrest of hundreds of militants.
Civilians have also been caught up in the violence with local residents in North Sinai being found killed, some decapitated, over the past months.
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